Renting Lenses - Why Do It?
As photographers we often own a variety of lenses. For some these are our go-to pieces of gear and we know them top to bottom. That can be a great advantage but also sometimes a hindrance to our work or a particular shoot. Sometimes we get so comfortable we end up repeating the same shots shoot after shoot. This means our work becomes stale, just new subject and backdrop. Another thing that happens is that we don’t tailor our gear for the shoot. Some shoots require a wide angle, others don’t. Some would be best shot with a 400+mm lens in the bag, others not so much. That said the best way to keep your photography fresh, learn new lenses (which may become your new favorite), and be best setup for each shoot is to rent lenses.
Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
On a recent shoot for SITKA Gear I decided to rent two lenses, the Sigma Art 35mm 1.4 (pictured above) and the Nikon 105mm 1.4 (pictured below). I rented them from Borrow Lens and it cost me about $185 for the two lenses including shipping for a full 7 days.
Nikon 105mm 1.4
Both lenses were great additions to my kit and I got some awesome imagery from both lenses. The 35mm I decided on because I wanted to shoot some low shutter, low aperture shots at night but without the wide angle distortion.
The shallow depth of field on both lenses really helped to separate my subject from the background. I intentionally wanted this for two reasons: 1) to help conceal some of the background and 2) to make my subject pop on flat or complex backdrops. It was important to not reveal Drake’s hunting areas yet still being able to easily photograph his hunt and given the nature of the area including burned areas being able to turn a mess of trees in the backdrop into nice soft bokeh was a great look for this hunt.
Nikon 105 - 1/1000s, f2.0, ISO100
Sigma 35mm doing some macro/detail work - 1/1000s, f2.0, ISO100
I’d share more but given the nature of the shoot most of the photos have to remain under wraps. But definitely do consider renting lenses in 2020, you won’t regret it. The two big names in the game are Borrow Lens and LensRentals. I’d recommend signing up for their email lists as you often can save 15-30% off your rental if you’re patient or know when they are running sales.